Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice’s Post

Our Deputy Director of Programs, Cody Ragonese, recently traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia as part of #GenerationGender, a program that aims to promote gender equality and violence-free societies. The training for project partners and youth activists focused on the importance of engaging men and boys for gender justice, and how partners could incorporate male engagement approaches into their theory of change. The training included identifying stakeholders, and completing a variety of gender-transformative activities from our curricula. From working with community and religious leaders, to partnering with paralegals and gender-based violence (GBV) responders, the GenG Indonesia coalition identified opportunities to integrate and strengthen their approach with men and boys to create a violence-free and gender-just future for Indonesia. One respondent shared, “[The training] provided a fresh perspective, complementing my framework of thinking about the involvement of men in campaigns and advocacy. [Doing the] Man Box [activity], working in groups, and reflecting together made me more knowledgeable and more confident in working with men.” Thanks to Cody for representing Equimundo and leading this capacity-sharing training on male engagement! The Indonesia GenG coalition came away from the sessions energized and equipped with skills to effectively engage men and boys and complement the gender equality work they are accomplishing across Indonesia. Terima kasih! Yayasan Gemilang Sehat Indonesia

Equimundo is excited to co-host the first-ever virtual Parental Leave Summit with Parento on September 12, 2024. The Summit will bring together authors, academics, advocates, and parents spearheading the conversation around paid parental leave across industries. In a session on Fatherhood and Paid Leave, Wessel van den Berg PhD from Equimundo and Paul Sullivan from the The Company of Dads will highlight the importance of paternity leave and its impact on men, their families and their communities. The session will address stereotypes and workplace misconceptions impacting why men aren’t taking leave. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/e6VuwWKQ #ParentalLeaveSummit #PaidLeaveforAll #PaternityLeave

The US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on Wednesday warning that parents are facing growing mental health issues due to financial instability, the loneliness epidemic, the youth mental health crisis, the threat of gun violence, and other modern challenges. Our data supports the findings highlighted in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advisory. According to our 2024 report on the caregiving burden in the US, men and women who have caregiving responsibilities are far more likely to be concerned about future work opportunities and career trajectories than those who do not have caregiving responsibilities. Our research also shows that a majority of male and female caregivers across the political spectrum say increasing investments in child care, elder care, and care for people with disabilities, as well as ensuring access to paid leave for all workers, are among their policy priorities. Murthy says we need a fundamental shift in how we value and prioritize parental well-being, ‘recognizing that the work of raising a child is crucial to the health and well-being of all society.’ He calls on policymakers to promote and expand funding for programs that support parents and caregivers and their families, and to establish a national paid family and medical leave program and ensure all workers have paid sick time, among other crucial initiatives which align with our MenCare Parental Leave Platform. Read more in Murthy's The New York Times Opinion piece, ‘Parents Are at Their Wits’ End. We Can Do Better:’ https://lnkd.in/e2b-724V #ParentsUnderPressure #MentalHealth #Parents #HHS #ChildCare #PaidLeaveforAll 

Equimundo's Deputy Director of Programs, Cody Ragonese, is speaking at the United Nations Global Compact #GCLeadersSummit 2024 about male engagement for gender equality in the workplace. This year’s Summit is set to bring together global leaders to explore how we can move #ForwardFaster towards a responsible future. Register to join: https://lnkd.in/d54-3R37

What does it mean to #VoteLikeADad?  We're launching the #VoteLikeADad campaign to get men to exercise their democratic right to vote while centering care as a major policy priority. Eighty-five percent of fathers with children under 18 say being a parent is the most or one of the most important aspects of who they are as a person, and we want to mobilize men to vote with this in mind. To #VoteLikeADad means voting and advocating for better care policies like equal paid parental leave, accessible childcare and other initiatives that promote families’ well-being. #ChildTaxCredit #PaidLeaveForAll #RaisetheMinimumWage #ChildCare #GetChildCareOnTheRecord #VoteLikeYouCare Want to participate in the campaign? Add the #VoteLikeADad sticker to your photos here: https://lnkd.in/eWh8_aif

Engage. Listen more. Don’t panic. Our research in the US finds that young men’s largest gathering spaces are online and much of their lives are spent in virtual meeting spaces. This means that we have to pay attention to what’s happening there—the positive, the harmful, and the in between. How can parents, educators, and media content makers help prevent violence online and off? Stay in the room for the difficult talks. By engaging with men, caring for them, listening to them, and understanding what they consume online, they both live better lives and they become better allies for others—for women’s rights, for racial justice, for our democracy. Read more about men’s online lives in a piece for TIME by Gary Barker, PhD, Equimundo President and CEO, and Esta Soler, Founder and President of Futures Without Violence. https://lnkd.in/g4HF4zNv #TIMEIdeas #Masculinity #Psychology #MensMentalHealth #MensOnlineLives #MensHealth